Finn was the first to awaken on Christmas morning. Checking his alarm clock, he decided that 6:15am was late enough that nobody would yell at him if he woke them up. Leaping out of bed, he threw his favorite bathrobe – a ratty old faded green item that Kurt kept threatening to burn – on over his pajamas and crossed to the other bed.

Kurt lay curled on his left side, smiling in his sleep. Finn wondered if he was dreaming about Blaine.

After his brother had returned to the car last night, he had not said a word, but his eyes had been starry and he had not been able to stop smiling. Burt had taken over driving duties since the snow had started falling harder and Finn did not feel as comfortable driving on slick dark streets, and Kurt had sat in the back seat next to his stepmother, curling into her welcoming embrace with a happy sigh. It had given Finn a funny kind of ache to see them that way. Not a jealous reaction. More like that weird, awesome feeling that he sometimes got when he knew that he was part of a truly perfect thing. Like glee club at their musical best, or him and Rachel when everything had been good between them. That's what this new family felt like.

Brushing aside the memory, Finn reached out a finger, tickling the end of Kurt's nose. He had learned his lesson about shaking his brother awake. It would work, but Kurt would be in a nasty, snarling mood for hours afterward, which just wasn't cool for Christmas.

Kurt's nose wrinkled and a hand emerged from the covers to brush at it. Finn grinned and did it again. "Ku-uurt," he sang softly. "Wake u-uup!"

The other boy rubbed his nose again, then snorted in a funny pig-like way that made Finn burst out laughing. The noise jerked Kurt the rest of the way awake and his eyes popped open, staring up at Finn with a startled look.

"Merry Christmas, Kurt!" he greeted cheerfully.

He rubbed his eyes and smiled sleepily. "Merry Christmas," he mumbled back. "What time is it?"

"Almost six-thirty. Mom and I always get up early on Christmas and open up our gifts first thing. It's kind of a tradition."

"Oh," he said, sitting up and yawning. "Okay. I'll get dressed."

Finn shook his head. "There won't be anybody but Mom and Burt and us. Just put on your robe," he ordered, tugging him out of bed and turning the half-asleep boy in a circle as he helped him into his cherry red, winter-weight bathrobe. Kurt had chosen to wear the Rudolph pajamas he'd received from Brittany last night and the effect, along with his bare feet and sleep-ruffled hair, made him look about ten years old.

Kurt could not stop yawning as Finn urged him up the stairs. He did not tend to function well until he'd had his first dose of morning caffeine, but he did not complain and that was a good sign.

"Merry Christmas, Mom!" Finn yelled down the hallway when they reached the main floor, seeing light shining from his parents' bedroom. "Merry Christmas, Burt!"

He could hear laughter as they returned the greeting. Burt was the first to emerge, belting a robe over his t-shirt and pajama pants. He clapped Finn on the shoulder and smiled as he mussed his son's disarranged locks and asked, "You awake?"

"Getting there," Kurt mumbled. He gave his father a hug. "Merry Christmas, Dad."

Carole came out a moment later, kissing both boys on the cheek as she hugged them.

"Presents?" Finn asked eagerly.

Disappointing him, Burt said, "Can it wait a few minutes? If we don't get a cup of coffee in this kid, I don't think he's going to make it past the second gift."

Finn glanced at Kurt, who was now leaning against a wall with his eyes closed. He nudged him and Kurt jumped and blurted, "I'm ready." He paused, looking a little confused. "What were we talking about?"

They laughed and Carole gently steered Kurt towards the kitchen. "We'll be right with you, honey. Why don't you pass the packages around and we'll get started on them in a few minutes."

Happy with that compromise, Finn followed Burt over to the Christmas tree, flicking on the tiny multicolored lights as he dropped to his knees and began handing boxes and gift bags up to his stepfather. He could not help the feeling of childlike greed that welled up in him as he took note of the sheer number of packages that had found their way beneath the tree. They were separated into four piles, both teens claiming the majority of the loot, and it was all Finn could do not to dive into his own stack right away.

He fidgeted impatiently. Just how long did it take to brew a pot of coffee, anyhow?

Finally, Kurt and Carole emerged. Each carried two cups in their hands and Kurt was already looking far more alert as he handed one over to Finn. "Half coffee, half hot milk, a tablespoon of hot chocolate powder and a teaspoon of vanilla extract," he said with a smile.

"Poor man's mocha," Burt commented, nodding as he took a sip from the cup Carole handed him. "I used to make these for you on holidays when you were a kid."

Kurt smiled. "I remember."

Finn took a curious sip and said, "Mm! This is good. Thanks, man!"

"You're welcome," he replied, setting his cup down and plunking down cross-legged on the floor next to his present pile. He picked up a package and grinned at their parents. "Can we?"

They nodded and Finn wasted no time diving in. Neither did Kurt. The adults laughed and joined in the fun and for the next half hour the room was filled with laughter, exclamations of delight and thanks, and the sound of tearing paper.

"Um, thanks Kurt," Finn said, opening what appeared to be a shoe box and finding a collection of video games inside, "but I don't have an X-box."

His brother reached over to Finn's gift pile, practically lying on the floor to get the one he wanted, and shoved a large box in blue snowflake paper toward him. "Don't be so sure of that."

With a gasp, Finn ripped into the package, praying that he was not being punked. "Oh, my God! Kurt, you're awesome!" he shouted as he pulled out a brand new X-box 360, complete with Kinect.

Kurt grinned, eyes sparkling with pleasure over his reaction. "One of the other Warbler's helped me find an amazing deal on that. I knew how much you wanted one, especially after your old PlayStation burned out a couple of months ago. Now you won't have to go over to Puck or Mike or Artie's houses every time you want to play a game."

Surprising both of them, tears welled up in Finn's eyes and he scooted across the carpet to throw both long arms around Kurt. He was so happy, he could not speak. The other boy laughed and patted him on the back.

"I guess he likes it," Carole said, smiling tenderly.

Burt had just finished putting batteries and the memory card into a new digital camera that his wife had given him and he wasted no time capturing the moment.

The two teens let go of each other and looked up at the flash. They smiled, though Kurt could not resist complaining about the fact that his father was taking pictures while his hair was a wreck. Burt just laughed and snapped another photo.

At the end of the unwrapping session, the room was filled with enough books, movies, CDs and video games to keep everyone entertained for the next month. Burt had given Carole a topaz pendant and Kurt had supplied her with a chic new outfit that beautifully complimented it, having been aware of his father's purchase. Finn gave her a ladies' watch, something she had needed for a long while. She was thrilled with everything and generously bestowed kisses on all of her men, bringing blushes and smiles to every face.

Burt got new tools from Finn – a gift that Kurt had assured him he could never go wrong with – and a gift certificate to a very nice restaurant from his wife, who knew that in spite of his laid-back ways, Burt loved to dress up and go 'out on the town' every now and then.

"Now Carole will have someplace to wear her pretty new clothes," Burt commented happily as he opened his next gift. "And I'm gonna look pretty snazzy myself!" he added, holding up the simple but classy suit his son had given him.

Kurt got several very generous gift cards to his favorite clothing stores from his dad and Carole, Burt knowing better by now than to even attempt to guess what clothes his choosy son would like best, resulting in a squealing double hug from the delighted teenager. Finn also got some cards, to a cool sporting goods store and his favorite fast food outlets.

"We are so going to the mall next week," Kurt told him, admiring the cards and clutching his own to his chest like a miser with a hoard of gold coins.

For once not frightened of that prospect since it was unlikely that they would be shopping in the same stores, Finn just laughed and said, "Cool by me, bro." Checking out his box of video games, he asked, "Want to help me set up the system downstairs?"

Kurt had a large screen TV in his basement and had been very generous about going halves with Finn, even though it now meant that Finn got the lion's share of usage while Kurt was away at school.

"Sure, let's just clean this up first," he agreed, gathering up discarded wrapping paper and placing his own neatly folded pile into a stack for reuse on some other Christmas. He rolled his eyes at the mass of crumpled, shredded wreckage on Finn's side of the room and went into the kitchen to grab him a garbage bag. Carole and Burt's wrapping was likewise divided into a state of neat versus lost-cause and the boys separated them accordingly while their parents gathered up the gifts and moved them to a safe place.

"What would you boys like for breakfast?" Carole asked with a smile as the room quickly cleared.

Kurt looked up hopefully and said, "Blueberry pancakes?"

Finn nodded. He didn't care about the berries but his mom's pancakes were the best.

"That gets my vote," Burt agreed, slipping his arms around Carole's waist and kissing her on the neck. Their sons rolled their eyes at the affectionate gesture, smiling anyway.

Carole laughed. "Sounds like we have a majority agreement. All righty, then. You boys go ahead and get your game set up. I'll call you up when the food is ready."

The game system was more complicated than it looked on first inspection, but between the two of them they managed to get everything hooked up and ready to go. Breakfast interrupted before they could choose a game but, being ravenous teenagers, neither boy minded. They ate heartily, then cleaned up and dressed for the day.

Phone calls started coming in just as breakfast ended and Kurt forgot all about video games in the interest of chatting with his friends, including a quickly turned private call with Blaine, and trading notes on what everybody had received for gifts.

Finn sighed, looking longingly at his waiting X-Box. He wanted to play, bad, but he really wanted somebody to join him and it did not look like his brother was planning to be available anytime soon. Even Puck wouldn't be available until mid-day. He did not celebrate Christmas, of course, but he was doing some kind of family thing anyway.

Upstairs, the doorbell rang and Finn happily yelled, "I'll get it!"

He opened the door and fell back a step in surprise. It was Rachel Berry. She smiled tentatively, holding out a brightly wrapped box. "Merry Christmas, Finn. I hope you don't mind me dropping by but I have a gift for you and it seemed a shame not to give it to you."

"Um," he said awkwardly. "Thanks. I . . . I didn't get you anything. Sorry."

"Oh, that's all right," she said instantly. "I mean, I don't actually celebrate Christmas. In fact, I don't usually give Christmas presents, but . . ."

Her words fell away and she looked so tiny and hopeful and sad, standing there on the porch in her little cape jacket and red beret, twisting her hands nervously in front of her, that Finn found himself saying, "You want to come in? My mom just put out a bunch of cookies and stuff. They're probably not kosher but they taste really good."

She beamed and Finn could not help smiling a little as he led her inside. Accepting a cookie, in spite of its non-kosher properties, she nibbled it politely as she greeted Finn's somewhat surprised looking mother and wished her a happy holiday.

"Aren't you going to open it?" she asked quietly once they were alone in the living room.

Remembering the package in his hand, Finn ripped off the paper. It was a booklet, one of those little hand made coupon books like kids sometimes gave their parents when they had no money for real gifts. Instead of chores and such, though, these were promises. There was a page for one private ballad performed with all her heart. A page for a Glee solo, to be turned over to the recipient of his choice with her compliments. A coupon for one public apology, at the time and place of his choosing. Another for an unnamed favor, to be claimed at any time.

There were almost two dozen gift coupons in the booklet and Finn felt himself choking up a little as he read it. None of the coupons were for super-personal couple things, just a lot of songs and several unusually selfless and sincere acts of penance and friendship.

What Rachel had done to him was lousy but he had missed seeing her smile. He had missed spending time with her. Finn was not quite ready to go back to the days of creepy kitty-couple calendars and other high-maintenance girlfriend/boyfriend stuff, but with Kurt's words from yesterday about bad choices and mistakes ringing in his ears, forgiveness suddenly did not seem so impossible.

"Thanks, Rachel," he said softly, smiling at her. She perked up and looked like she was going to cry from happiness when he leaned over and gave her a hug, clinging to him for a moment when he tried to break it off quickly.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Finn," Kurt's voice called out suddenly as he came up the stairs. "I got wrapped up in talking to Mercedes and lost track of the . . . oh, hi, Rachel. I didn't know you were here."

She got up and walked over to him, giving Kurt a long hug as well. "Merry Christmas, Kurt," she said, sniffling a little then laughing at the puzzled look on his face.

"Yes, um, same to you." He looked uncertain. "Am I interrupting something?"

Finn grinned at him, glad for his timely interruption. If he and Rachel were going to start back on the road to reconciliation as just friends, it would be nice to have somebody in the middle and whether he knew it or not, Kurt had just volunteered. "Kurt bought me an X-Box for Christmas," he told Rachel. "We were just about to go try it out. I got Rock Band and Karaoke Revolution, along with a bunch of other games. You want to join us?"

Rachel looked like he had just offered her the moon. "If it's okay with both of you guys."

She looked at Kurt, who narrowed his eyes at Finn but seemed to get the message he was trying to convey with the pleading look he shot back. "Sure," he said slowly. "That sounds like . . . fun?"

Finn nodded enthusiastically. "Cool, let's go!"

It took a few minutes to choose a game and little squabbling over who should get to go first once they picked the karaoke game, but soon the three of them were laughing and having a blast hamming their way through the song catalogue. Rachel and Finn were able to relax around each other for the first time in weeks and Kurt smoothly intervened whenever they veered toward a danger zone, usually by distracting Rachel with a separate argument.

By the time Rachel left things were so much better between them that Finn could not believe it. As he watched her leave, looking like a cute little bird in her brown coat against the freshly fallen snow, Finn sighed. He glanced down when he felt a hand on his shoulder and found Kurt standing next to him, smiling understandingly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I think I am. I think we are. Thanks, man."

The hand squeezed tight. "Least I could do for my big brother."

He laughed. "We're practically the same age."

"Technicalities," he scoffed, smiling playfully.

"I never did have a chance to ask you last night. Did everything work out with you and Blaine?"

Kurt nodded, that dreamy smile instantly drifting over his lips again. "It was amazing. I already got permission from Dad to spend New Year's Eve with Blaine and his parents. They have a big party and I guess about twenty spare guest rooms so it's okay if I stay over."

"So, you'll get that New Year kiss after all," he said, happy for the other boy. Kurt had been unhappy for a long time. It was nice to know that things were turning around for him. "Burt must have really liked Blaine if he's willing to let you spend the night with him."

"Not with him," Kurt corrected, blushing a little, "but yeah, Dad liked him. I think he just figured that it wouldn't make a lot of sense to prohibit me from staying over when Blaine and I go to the same boarding school anyway."

Finn chuckled. He knew full well that Burt Hummel would not have hesitated to lock Kurt in the basement and home-school him if he had decided that Blaine was some dangerous predator out to steal his baby boy's virtue. He knew better than to voice that opinion, however.

"I've had enough video games," Kurt blurted suddenly, staring out at the world of white beyond their front door. "I feel like doing something real. Want to build a snowman?"

Finn's eyes bulged. "Seriously?"

Kurt grinned. "Sure, why not? There's more than enough snow to build a good one and I haven't done anything like that in ages. He can even have my old green and white Gucci scarf. It's ridiculously out of fashion now."

Delighted, Finn moved to grab his coat from the rack next to the door. "I'll get my train conductor cap."

"Please," Kurt scoffed, hurrying into one of his older jackets and a pair of gloves. "He'll totally clash in that combination. I'll let him borrow one of mine. How do you think a snowman would look in a fedora?"

"The black biker cap is cooler. Our snowman should look like he can kick the other snowman's asses."

Kurt's laughter rang through the cold winter air as they went outside and he instantly became diverted from his purpose with the urge to pick up a handful of snow and fling it in Finn's face. Finn bellowed and grabbed a handful of his own, and just like that the battle was on.

They barely noticed that the outside Christmas lights had come on until Burt and Carole suddenly dashed outside and joined the fray. Soon the entire family was screaming and laughing and chucking handfuls of snow at one another.

It was the best Christmas day ever.

THE END